Week 17 - Final Week!

Hi everyone,
Here we are at week 17! Thank you all so much for supporting Lucky Moon Farm- it's consumers like you who make the CSA possible, by putting your time and money into supporting local farmers and sustainable agriculture. We appreciate it!
We've had a set of beautiful fall days lately, and the color in the trees is reaching an absolute peak. Out at the farm today, the hillsides were simply glowing with color. Every time I looked up from pulling up beets and carrots, I was stunned. The trees really seem to emit their own light- if you have a chance to drive out Lincklaen Rd towards Chittenango, it's worth the time to see the leaves right now.

So you've got some nice heavy bags this week to wrap things up. We've loaded up some bags of carrots, potatoes and onions to help stretch your remaining veggies for a couple weeks.
Here's the list:

Mixed Onions and Shallots
Mixed Potatoes
Butternut squash
Cabbage
Carrots
Beets
Parsley root (looks vaguely like a white carrot)
Tomatoes
Collard Greens (best to do a quick double-check while rinsing these for little catepillars- they're everywhere right now and very hungry as they get ready for winter, and you want to avoid surprises :>)

For storing these vegetables, different ones prefer different conditions.
Most of us don't have root cellars, which provide ideal conditions for many storage vegetables, but you can keep produce quite a while even without one.

-The tomatoes will do best on your counter until you use them
-Onions and Potatoes like it dry and dark, in general
-Winter Squash likes it dry and moderately warm- (50s-60s) I often keep mine in a spare room that I don't heat or in my basement, which is warmed somewhat by the furnace.
-Carrots and Beets (and Parsley root) will keep a long time if you put them in the fridge in a plastic bag with a paper towel folded in half in with them to absorb excess moisture.
-Cabbage will keep a while if you give it the same treatment as carrots and beets
-Not that you plan on keeping the Collards very long, but leafy greens do best in the fridge in a plastic bag until you use them. And it's best to wash them right before using them, since if they're too wet in their bag, they're more likely to get slimy.

Hope that helps.

If you need more vegetables over the winter, Sue & Claude have vegetables, garlic braids and maple syrup for sale at the farm (calling ahead is a good idea to check on availability) and Sue will most likely be at the winter farmers' markets held in Poolville and at Circa Restaurant in Cazenovia. Feel free to call or email for more information.

Again, thanks so much for joining us for the 2011 season and we hope you will join us again next year! Spread the word to any friends or neighbors who you think might be interested in trying out the CSA in 2012.

All the best,
Sarah